(Eagle News)–Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano slammed the British Broadcasting Corp. on Wednesday, Oct. 3, for what he said was its unfair depiction of democracy in the Philippines.
In a statement, Cayetano said the documentary “Our World—Philippines: Democracy in Danger?” amounts to “nothing more than anti-Duterte propaganda, more worthy of tabloid journalism and gossip than the venerable institution that we thought BBC was.”
In the first place, he said the documentary “misleads viewers about President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s anti-illegal drug strategy, which is actually making Philippine society safer, healthier, and more prosperous for the Filipino people.”
“It fails to mention that the strategy is a diversified and community-based approach that includes enforcement, rehabilitation, and reintegration,” he said.
No magnitude of drug problem
According to Cayetano, the documentary “also makes little mention of the sheer magnitude of the drug problem in the Philippines, the enormous damage to millions of families caused by addiction, and the fact that police are under strict orders to follow the law in the conduct of our campaign against illegal drugs.”
It also “did not take into consideration the actions taken by the Duterte Administration against police officers and other government personnel involved in the illegal drug trade.”
“If BBC did its homework, it would have known that as of 31 August 2018, we have arrested 576 government workers, including elected officials and uniformed personnel while another 498 are being investigated for drug-related cases,” he said, also noting that 105 uniformed personnel have been dismissed for drug-related offenses, and from 1 July 2016 to August 31, 2018, a total of 235 drug dens and clandestine laboratories have been dismantled.
P24.12 billion worth of illegal drugs and drug-related items have also been seized, and 8,444 barangays or villages have been cleared of illegal drugs, Cayetano said.
One-sided picture
Cayetano also slammed the documentary’s “one-sided picture” of Senator Leila de Lima, Senator Antonio Trillanes, and former Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno.
He said “it overlooks the fact that all three have been given and continue to be given their day in court,” and are also free to criticize the Duterte administration.
“The rule of law has been upheld in all three cases. They are not, as the report unfairly alleges, victims of any crackdown on the political opposition,” he said.
Cayetano said the documentary also failed to note that Duterte continues to enjoy the trust and support of the Filipino people, based on recent surveys, and “falsely claims that the media in the Philippines is being persecuted.”
“Freedom of the press is important to the health of any democracy. Those who read our newspapers, watch our television programs, listen to our radio broadcasts, take part in dialogue through social media, and read online publications (including Rappler, which like other media outlets, can freely publish and criticize the policies of the Duterte Administration) can observe that the press is anything but inhibited in the Philippines,” he said.
Present accurate, balanced view
“In the interest of fair and objective reporting, therefore, we urge the BBC to present an accurate and balanced view of issues about the Philippines in the future so that its audience can make its own assessment of the health of our democracy,” Cayetano said.
According to Cayetano, “by doing so BBC will be able to regain the trust of its audience in its journalistic professionalism and repair the damage it has inflicted on the Philippines and the Filipino people as a result of this one-sided documentary.”